Swinging door



E. KANN SWINGING DOOR Filed July 9, 1940 April14, 1942.

Patented Apr. 14, 1942 r orricr.

SWINGING DOOR Eduard Kann, New York, N. Y.

Application July 9, 1940, Serial No. 344,550

( Cl. 2li-16) 6 Claims.

My invention relates to swinging doors.

As my invention is particularly advantageous for double swinging doors I shall describe the same in this connection. However, my invention is not limited thereto, but extends to both single and double doors and to doors which swing in either one or two directions.

It is frequently necessary to use double swinging doors between certain portions of buildings, for instance factories and wareho-uses, and for this purpose doors of metal or wood are oommonly used. However, I have found that such doors have several disadvantages. For example, they have considerable inertia and are damaged by hand,or electric trucks, wheel barrows, etc., which are used to transport materials between the various departments. This is particularly the case with large-size trucks which may strike the doors near their hinged side. As a result of this, the doors are dented and in many cases are so severely damaged that they either do not close properly or become jammed. Furthermore, in some cases the hinges are broken or loosened from the door frame.

In addition it is frequently desirable to separate two portions of a factory as completely as possible, for instance when fumes or gases present in one portion should not reach the other portion. If the usual rigid swinging doors are used between such portions the doorway will be substantially completely open each time the wide, low trucks used in factory work pass through the doorway.

The main object of my invention is to overcome the above difculties and for this purpose I employ a door comprising a substantially rigid frame portion adapted to swing, and a main portion which ismade of flexible material and is so secured to the frame portion that it may be displaced relatively thereto. More particularly, I may employ a frame portion similar in shape to an inverted L. hinged or pivoted at one side and carrying a sheet of flexible material which forms the main portion of the door.

The frame portion, which may be made of tubing, is hinged or pivoted at one edge -so as to swing in one or two directions and may be provided with any of the well-known spring devices. The flexible sheet portion is usually made of rubber or a rubber substitute, preferably with fabric molded therein, may be reinforced at its free edges and may be provided with one or more windows.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect I shall l describe the same in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a sectionized view of a wall with a pair of swinging doors according to the in.

vention,

Fig. 2 is a iront view of one of the doors of Figure 1,

Fig. 3 is a slightly enlarged sectional view taken along line 3 3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a slightly enlarged sectional view along line 4 4 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is a partly-sectionized view of a portion of Figure 2 on an enlarged scale.

In Figures land 2 the reference numeral l designates a wall of a building forming a doorway provided with two doors 2 according to the invention. The doors are hinged at their sides so as to swing in both directions and are provided with means to return them to the position shown. The two doors are of similar construction and the detail-s thereof will bey explained in connection with Figs. 2 to 5.

As shown in Figure 2, the frame .of the door 2 comprises a vertical frame member 3, for instance of steel tubing. Secured to the member 3 at point il, for instance welded thereto, is a second frame member 5, for instance of steel tubing, which extends for a short distance at an angle of about and then extends horizontally. A triangular-shaped sheet of metal 6 has two of its edges welded to the member 3 and member 5 respectively and serves to close this triangular space as well as to reinforce the door frame.

As shown in Fig. 3v a metal strip fl is welded to member 3 along a line 3 and extends from the bottom of member 3 to the end of member 5. In a similar manner a metal strip 9 (not shown in the Fig. 2) is welded to the bottom of member 5 and extends the length thereof. Secured to strips 'i and 9 respectively by a -number of bolts l0 are a metal strip Il and a metal strip I2.

Supported by the frame by having its upper i end portion clamped between strips 9-l2 and its left hand edge portion clamped between strips "1 -li, is a sheet i3 of flexible material which forms the main portion of the door. The sheet I3 may be of fabric, rubber, an artificial rubber, or rubberized fabric. However, ,other flexible materials may, of course, be used and inl some cases the ymaterial may be provided'with a special coating for a particular reason, for inf stance to protect the flexible material against certain types of fumes or gases. In addition it may be desirable to reinforce the free edges of the sheet and in the case of rubberized fabric I may vulcanize a strip of rubber along these edges.

The door is provided with a suitable spring mechanism for returning it to its'central position and a particularly advantageous construction for this purpose is shown in Fig. in which the reference numeral I4 indicates a metal rod which has its upper end snugly tting into a hole I5 in a plate I6 secured to the wall. Fastened to rod I4 by a pin I1 is a lever I8 having a bent end portion engaging the front surface of the metal sheet 6. A lever I9, similar in shape to the lever I8, has its left hand end secured to a collar 20 which is rotatably mounted on rod I4. A helical spring 2l has one end secured to the collar 20 and its other end secured to the lower end of rod I. A stop 22 v having a thickness slightly greater than the thickness of sheet 6 is secured to the wall and serves to keep the levers apart and to keep the door in its central position. Due tc the tension in spring 2I the levers I8 and I9 are held against stop 22 with a predetermined pressure. Thus, in operation each of the levers I8 and I9 serve to return the door from one side to its central position and the door will always be held in its central position with a predetermined amount of force.

It should be noted that the thickness of the sheet I3 depends upon various factors such as size and shape of the door, type of flexible material used, amount of spring pressure, etc. I have found that in many cases a sheet of rubberized fabric having a thickness of about a quarter of an inch gives very satisfactory results.

The door may be provided with one or more windows and a suitable construction is illustrated in Fig. 4. As shown a glass disc 23 fits into a hole in sheet I3 and is held in place by two metal rings 24 and 25 secured together by screws 25. Gaskets 21, for instance of rubber, serve to hold the disc 23 securely in place. It will be noted that the edges of the rings 24 and 25 are rounded to prevent objects from catching thereon when passing through the doorway.

When an object passes through a doorway provided with the doors according to the invention there is a combined swinging of the frame and bending or exing of the flexible sheet. More particularly, the frames will swing to some extent about their pivots and at the same time the flexible sheet I3 will be bent to an extent which depends upon the size and shape of the object passing through the doorway. For eX- ample, if a truck which is both wide and high passes through the doorway the frames will swing to a large degree and there may be a relatively small amount of bending of the flexible material. On the other hand if a workman passes through the center portion of the doorway there will be very little swinging of the frame and only a bending of the inner portion of the flexible sheet. If a workman pulls a low, wide truck through the doorway, there will be only a slight swinging of the doors and consequently the doorway would be open to only a small amount. I-Iowever, if solid swinging doors were used, the doorway would be almost completely open and this may allow an undesired passage of fumes or gases therethrough. In any case there will be no damaging of the door according to the invention.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to particular preferred examples, i1; will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and further modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, kand it is intended therefore in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A swinging door comprising a frame of angular shape and having a side portion and a top portion, and a sheet of flexible material forming the main portion of the door and having an edge secured to each of said frame portions.

2. A swinging door comprising a substantially rigid frame similar in form to an inverted L, and a sheet of flexible material forming the main vportion of the door,.said material being secured along its upper edge and one side edge to said frame.

3. A swinging door comprising a frame similar in shape to an inverted L, and a sheet of flexible material having its upper edge secured to the horizontal portion of the frame and one of its side edges secured to the'vertical portion of the frame, the lower edge and the remaining side edge of the sheet being unsupported.

4. A swinging door comprising a vsubstantiallyrigid frame similar in shape to an inverted L, and a sheet of rubberized fabric forming the main portion of the door and supported at two adjacent edges by said frame.

5. A swinging door comprising a frame .in the form of an inverted L and hinged on its vertical side, and a sheet of flexible material having its upper edge secured to the horizontal portion of the frame, and one of its side edges secured t0 the vertical portion of the frame, the remaining edges of said sheet being unsupported.

6. A swinging door comprising a frame in the form of an inverted L and having a side portion and top portion of metal tubing, a heavy sheet of flexible material having its upper edge clamped to the horizontal portion of the frame, and its one side edge clamped to the vertical portion of the frame, the remaining edges of said sheet being free.

EDUARDI KANN. 

